Spurs roll over Kings

SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- It was business as usual for the San
Antonio Spurs on Monday. Thanks to another stingy defensive
effort, the Spurs cruised past the Sacramento Kings for a 101-85
triumph.

Tony Parker collected 18 points and six assists to lead five
players in double figures as San Antonio won its second straight
following a rare two-game skid. The Kings, meanwhile, continued
to struggle as they fell for the 14th time in 16 chances.

The Spurs held the Kings, who fell to 0-4 on their Western
Conference road trip, to just 40 percent shooting (31-of-78).

"Sacramento has a lot of people who can score," Spurs coach
Gregg Popovich said. "For us, it was about making stops, not
just scoring ourselves. We tried to limit their scoring."

It was the first of a back-to-back for the Spurs, who face
Minnesota on Tuesday. Parker, who scored 12 points in the
first half, was able to sit out the entire fourth quarter along
with fellow All-Star Tim Duncan.

"Hopefully, we can learn some lessons from a team like that,"
Kings coach Kenny Natt said. "When you're taking jump shots and
they're getting layups, it's apparent we need to be more
aggressive."

The Spurs were hot early, shooting over 60 percent in the first
half.

"I think it was better offense than defense," said Manu
Ginobili, who came off the bench to score 10 points. "In the
first half, we scored 62. That's a lot of points for us."

In the third quarter, Sacramento trimmed the Spurs' 17-point
lead to 11 after a pair of Beno Udrih free throws. But San
Antonio rattled off a 12-2 run to extend the lead to 77-56. The
Kings never challenged again.

"Our problem was turning the ball over," Kings guard John
Salmons said. "We had a spurt of turnovers, and they hit shots
and made a run."

The Kings held strong early on, but that only lasted for about
nine minutes. The Spurs closed the first quarter with an 8-0
run to take an 11-point lead into the second and continued to
pile on from there. Sacramento pulled to as close as six on
Bobby Brown's 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 38-32 three
minutes into the second, but Tim Duncan's layup on the other end
spurred another 8-0 spurt.

"It was just too many turnovers and the ballgame got away from
us in the second quarter," Natt said.

The All-Star forward took just five shots - but that was more
than enough. His teammates did the rest of the heavy lifting,
as the San Antonio bench accounted for 44 of the team's 101
points.

"The bench came up big for us tonight," Spurs center Matt Bonner
said.

Salmons led all players with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting,
while Udrih added 13 and six steals. The Kings were once again
playing without leading scorer Kevin Martin, who has missed 20
of the last 22 games.